'I gave my daughter's pony to a zoo to be eaten by lions - I have no regrets'

A mum who sent her daughter's pony to becomelion food has said she doesn't regret the move - but acknowledges it may appear to have been "dramatic and bizarre".

Most mothers would choose to take their children's sick pets to the vet, but Pernille Sohl decided that when her daughter's pony fell ill that it should be donated to a local zoo. Ms Sohl, 44, from Denmark, took the animal to the Aalborg Zoo in the country's north. Staff at Aalborg, a hugely popular tourist attraction that cares for more than 1,500 animals across 126 species, had launched a "food drive" in a bid to mimic its resident predators' natural food chain.

Ms Sohl chose to make the horse "whole prey" for the Aalborg lions, and has been shocked by backlash she has received following the decision. It comes after an octopus 'climbed out of aquarium tank' and 'tried to eat a boy' in front of his mum.

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Speaking to The Times, the mum said she understood how the decision may sound "very dramatic and bizarre", but added the animals being sent to the zoo were "going to be put down anyway". She said: "It might sound very dramatic and bizarre that you would feed your pet to animals in the zoo.

"But they are going to be put down anyway and it is not like they are alive when they are given to the predators." Ms Sohl isn't the only mum who has decided to send her child's beloved pet to become food for predators, with dozens of people having followed suit, according to the zoo.

Staff say the appeal has yielded donations of 22 horses, 18 guinea pigs, 53 chickens and 137 rabbits. All donors receive a DKK100 (£11.60) tax reduction for each small animal, and DKK5 (58p) per kilogram for larger horses.

In a post on Instagram, the zoo said all animals are "gently euthanised by trained staff" before they are fed to the animals. Using donated whole animals instead of slabs of pre-prepared meat ensures "nothing goes to waste" the zoo states, and that "natural behaviour, nutrition and [the] well-being of predators" is ensured.

Aalborg isn't the only zoo using donations to feed its predators, with Helen Hjortholm Andersen, from Jutland, having donated her Shetland pony to Jyllands Park Zoo after she was told to leave it to die in a field.

She said it "made sense" to send the 20-year-old pony, named Paprika, to the zoo, as the costs of collecting a dead animal were "grotesquely high".

She said: "The idea that she could be of benefit made sense. We would do it again. We like the idea of the cycle of life, and that a pony can help to create life for other animals."